Following on from a post I made a few weeks ago defending the turn based element of JRPGs and why I feel they should never die ( http://dontteasetheoctopus.... I started to read articles pertaining mainly to the downfall of JRPGs and why they are losing favour in the West. Many writers and forum contributors have hypothesised over why and how they need to be fixed and how pretty much every other genre in gaming, particularly WRPGs, have left the JRPG floundering in their wake for a last gasp phoenix down, in an attempt to prevent them from being totally wiped out by the BioBethehemoth.
There are stats and commentary to back these claims up. PSM3 posted an article on Gamesradar back in March ( http://www.gamesradar.com/p... which told us that the Japanese software market has slumped a staggering 40% from 537 billion yen (£4 billion) to 326 billion yen (£2.5 billion) between 1997 and 2009. Whether this slump is solely down to one genre of Japanese games or the growth of the gaming market in other areas of the world is debatable. I lean towards the latter personally.
At one point the Japanese gaming market represented 50% of the global gaming market and enjoyed what many observers describe as a 'Golden Age' during the PS1 era. The thing is, Japanese developers, particularly JRPG developers, have for the most part, only ever made games they thought Japanese people would enjoy, a notion backed up by Hirokazu Hamamura, president of Enterbrain, the publisher of Famitsu, in a recent interview with Mark Cieslak of the BBC ( http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/...
"The Japanese don't like shooting and war games very much. They prefer playing in fantasy worlds and battling with swords. I think there is very little interest in fighting with guns and this sort of combat game."
Catering to the Western market has only recently become a major concern for Japanese publishers as gamers and critics alike round on the JRPG genre with accusations of 'Galapagosization', and undoubtedly, some of them haven't gone about making their Western move in the best way. Square Enix being a case in point. Acquiring Eidos was hypothetically, a masterstroke as they inherited two of the most recognisable brands in the Western gaming market in Tomb Raider and Hitman. Combining Square Enix's expertise in the cinematic and emotionally attached gaming experience with Eidos' successful IPs , on paper, was a fantastic match which would allow the Japanese publisher to gain a foothold in the Western gaming market. Mixing JRPGs and Western developers together though is a tricky balancing act.
Front Mission Evolved, a treasured Squaresoft licence from back in the day was handed over to Double Helix Games for development, why? Double Helix are an amalgamation of Shiny Entertainment and The Collective, Inc. who between them are responsible for some of my favourite games: Buffy the Vampire Slayer on Xbox, Earthworm Jim on SNES and MDK. However, were they well placed to take a traditional JRPG IP like Front Mission and er...evolve it? Well, despite good intentions and some nice ideas the reviewers would say no...( http://www.metacritic.com/g...
GRIN were also left out in the cold, allegedly, from this hybridisation of the lauded Square Enix IP and the Western development studio. They were rumoured to be working on a Final Fantasy XII spinoff called Fortress, as reported by Kotaku ( http://kotaku.com/5341365/g... and numerous other reputable sources shortly after GRIN went out of business in 2009. Again, allegedly, I must stress this because to my knowledge this speculation is nothing more than internet fodder and CV snooping, they were expecting a large sum of money for the development of this title but that it was taken back in house due to Square Enix issues with the quality. Why a Final Fantasy licence was given to anyone outside of the core SE development studio is anyone's guess, especially since it's one of the most successful Japanese titles in the West anyway.
Sufficed to say, it doens't make any sense to me as a fan of Japanese games, to have a Western studio develop titles which fall into that category of IP and it doens't ring true for the fans either, this is gripe #1. Look at the backlash Ninja Theory received ( http://www.escapistmagazine... when it came to light they would be developing the new Devil May Cry game. Great studio, one of the few that could probably pull this off but the fans remain extremely sceptical. This is one of the internet's few JRPG gripes I can get on board with, I wouldn't want Square Enix developing Mass Effect 3 and I wouldn't want BioWare developing FFXV. Fans of JRPGs and WRPGs appreciate the differences and enjoy each for their respective strengths. There's absolutely no need to mix them up.
Another thing that seems to piss gamers off about JRPGs are their 'cliched' storylines, gripe #2. The reluctant hero is apparently all of a sudden an alien concept to some people who presumably have grown up watching Terminator 2 on repeat to be deluded into thinking that all heroes love what they do. In many JRPG cases, you're a reluctant hero, thrown into the fray by circumstances outside of your control. A giantbomb.com blog post bemoaned this at length earlier this year ( http://www.giantbomb.com/pr... I think the thing people forget, all too often, is that this isn't a narrative device limited only to JRPGs. A reluctant hero is part and parcel of the monomyth and common to all kinds of narrative from various cultures all over the world since, well, forever.
Amnesia has become a dirty word in the JRPG despite the fact that Fallout: New Vegas uses it as a plot device as does Shadowrun from Australian developers, Beam Software for the SNES way back in 1993.
The hero's family being killed at an early age or the hero being the last of his kind for some reason in some JRPGs never happens in WRPGs because they're so cutting edge and fresh. *cough* Baldur's Gate *cough* Divinity 2.
Waking up one morning to discover you've come of age all of a sudden and were special for some reason with a duty to save the world never happened in Neverwinter Nights, or Dragon Age, or Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion or countless other WRPGs of the same ilk did it? Actually it did so I get frustrated when I hear that JRPG storylines are cliched. Most game storylines are cliched to some extent, so sorry internet, but you're going to have to come up with a better reason for hating JRPG storylines. Here's a tip: they're too melodramatic. I'll give you that one.
So what else, ah yes, gripe #3: 'uh, how cum i can juz wlk in2 sum1s house and steal dere stuff an no1 says nuffin dats juz dumb. jprgs suck lolz lolz lolz lolz. wrpgs ftw.' I'm not going to dwell on the looting point too much because it's so ludicrous but FALLOUT! ELDER SCROLLS! NEVERWINTER! BALDUR'S GATE! ETC ETC ETC ETC to INFINITY! Not only will you nick people's stuff but you will become encumbered with some of the most pointless loot EVER seen in videogames! I loved all the above games, loved them, but would frequently have to clear my inventory of cups, plates, goblets and other pointless things that I had found in chests or people's houses.
Gripe #4 is a pretty obvious one and probably the only one I'm going to categorically agree with. Random battles. They're tired, they're annoying and dozens of JRPGs have shown us a better way of doing things by having the enemies on the map for you to engage and avoid at your leisure. Some would argue that without random battles, players won't be ready to engage some challenges further down the line as they won't be levelled up enough but I think games like Demon's Souls have shown us that gamers learn through dying. It's fairly obvious that if something wipes you easily, you'll need to go and level up before trying again.
Silly haircuts. This is gripe #5. Ignoring the fact that Commander Shepherd wears pyjamas with shoulder pads in them or that everyone in Dragon Age has exactly the same pants on, I guess I can see why the Japanese aesthetic catering towards Japanese people is something that needs to be fixed in Japanese games...
This goes back to what I was saying earlier regarding Japanese developers making games for Japanese people. We are dealing with two essentially, very different cultures with a different idea of everyday entertainment.
Ryoei Mikage, president of breakaway Tales development studio, Imageepoch, sums this up nicely in a recent interview with Famitsu summarised on 1up.com ( http://www.1up.com/news/ima... regarding his new ventures and his plans to bring the JRPG up to date without losing or fixing the things that make JRPGs, JRPGs:
"Lately you see a lot of overseas gamers write on the net about the 'weird aspects' of JRPGs, but would 'fixing' those aspects make Japanese users happy? Not necessarily, no. I think you only see real quality in JRPGs when they're created by Japanese people, for Japanese people. People overseas talk about the 'Galapagosization' of the Japanese game industry, but they've been saying that for the past decade about every aspect of entertainment. Instead of getting into a panic about that, we want to lay the groundwork for what we need to grow in the future."
"We want to be in a perfect position to make JRPGs for Japan, and once we achieve that, then we can look for ways to get foreigners interested in JRPGs as well. Level-5's Professor Layton series is well-regarded worldwide for being an innovative new adventure. By several years from now, I want to see a JRPG from us that similarly breaks the mold and shows both Japan and the world that JRPGs don't have to all be fantasy RPGs."
Essentially, I think what Mikage is saying, is that JRPGs need to go back to basics before being welcomed back into the consoles of a wider Western audience and that is what he wants to do. Go back to making JRPGs without being overly concerned by catering to Western audiences. This notion is perhaps backed up by the critical and commercial success of DQIX, a JRPG that at no point pretends it's anything other than just that.
I'm inclined to agree with him. As a long time fan of the genre I, and many others like me, will continue to consume JRPGs with the same fervour I would consume any WRPG, and in fact the more traditional (read cliched to critics) they are, the better. Providing a RPG has a well told story, interesting characters and a good combat system then it will be enjoyed regardless of the cliches and inconsistencies which run riot in both genres. I think it's just strange at the moment to see how people are rounding on JRPGs. I often see gamers say that all JRPGs are either medieval fantasy or steampunk based. I'll take that and raise you this: all FPSs are set during a 20th century war or in space. All WRPGs are set in a medieval fantasy world except Mass Effect. None of these statements are true (actually, I'm wracking my brains here...the last one might be!?).
For me, games within a specific genre, as with films will always conform to at least some of the genre coventions that make them a part of that stable in the first place. Only very rarely will a genre-busting game launch which changes the way titles in that genre are thought about, maybe Demon's Souls could be that piece of software for Japanese RPG developers or maybe, like Mikage and Imageepoch, it will be about going back to basics? Who knows, but for the time being I'll continue to enjoy any high calibre RPG, Japanese or Western, as they come.
Microsoft announced its financial results for Q3 of fiscal year 2026, including an update on its gaming Xbox business and more.
Not looking good. Hopefully Asha Sharma is able to turn Phil’s disaster around.
To me it's still quite remarkable how they can cash-in 5.3bn in revenue in a single quarter, since their hardware is basically dead.
The stock mark is what makes Microsoft remarkable, They have convinced every institutional and retail investor to just keep piling money into them. Like many big tech giants they are just a big growing pyramid scheme. As long as people keep dropping money into ETF's that cover the market Microsoft will always be liquid. At the same time it is completely stifling innovation and competition. People need to start being more discreet in how they invest their money as it's killing the system.
Riiiiight because people will just flock back to them for one or two games per year.
15+ years of bad performance is what they call irreparable in business. It is time for them to sell off the assets and get out of entertainment.
These declines are on the back of extra revenue received from releasing games like Forza horizon 5 on PlayStation. So I’m being sarcastic here when I said they should go back to exclusives. Killing off a revenue stream from Ps5 sales will only make things worse
The charity event will be streamed live from Gamescom in August.
Thanks to the slip-up of an artist working on the title, we now have more evidence that a new Injustice game is in the works.
Not that am here to troll because am sure you have some very interesting things to say, and am sure others will take the time to read this.
But I am no stranger to reading online and I draw the line at reading half of that wall of text. I can't see how that much information was needed to convey 5 points.
Either way just some advice try keep your typing down a little in your next blog as 99 percent of users won't bother to read that much text on one opinion.
You could have just summed up that entire post by posting this:
http://media.ebaumsworld.co...
Hm, honestly, those "complaints" from the internet are nothing more than silly excuses and generalizations.
As I've always said, alot of JRPGs break the norm. They just don't have Final Fantasy in the name and, sadly, get overlooked.
Hell, I think the only ones taking misteps are the big companies. This generation, I've played some great, GREAT Japanese Role Playing Games, such as Tales of Vesperia, Lost Odyssey, Nier and Recettear, to name a few.
Honestly, I think those bitching about JRPGs don't look around hard enough. Cliche stories? I must say, have you ever seen a game that basically makes you a loli shopkeeper that has to pay a debt after her father left? What about a game that has you craftin' stuff being an adorable alchemist?
As I've said, not every JRPG is Final Fantasy. But hey, they probably don't even bother looking, and honestly, those people who say "Hurr JRPG ded lol" are not even trying to prove a point, but simply doing mindless, stupid "trolling" (albeit I would not consider that even "trolling").
Remember, kids nowadays have to bash things to feel their other product is superior, wich is why you just have to ignore them. They spout things without even knowing what they're talking about.
(double post due to 4000 character limit)
I think you may have been getting the wrong impression from these articles, mate. Let's take a look at these, shall we?
1. Amnesia.
This trope is hardly anything new within RPGs (or within storytelling, for that matter). It can come across as contrived at times, but it works, and it hasn't really been a major criticism leveled at JRPGs anyway, as it can be found in every genre of everything ever. It can thus be safely ignored.
2. Silly haircuts.
Another diversion. What needs to be fixed regarding JRPGs has nothing to do with aesthetics, and everything to do with game mechanics and storytelling technique.
3. Random battles.
This is one game mechanic that should *probably* go. That said, I believe it still has its uses, but the techniques and algorithms involved need to be made more sophisticated. Random battles are not singularly the domain of RPGs, and if used well, can still complement "fixed" battles.
4. The reluctant hero.
Another familiar trope, this one is somewhat fair game for criticism. The hero might be reluctant, but there's no refusing the call to adventure, because the call knows where you live (and because the player has already consciously answered it when starting the game). Let's just put it this way: There's one too many burned-down hometowns in the realm of JRPGs. Yes, they exist in other games and RPGs as well, but somehow JRPGs seem to have more than their fair share here.
5. No need to mix up Western and Eastern developers.
If they can learn something from one another, why not? I've heard a lot of posters on this site complain about "Westernization", which is usually shorthand for "I just don't like it". Usually has nothing to do with Westernization, and everything to do with the end result being just plain rubbish. I agree that I wouldn't want to see Square-Enix developing Mass Effect, but I'm honestly not sure I'd like to see them developing anything else, either, "Eastern" or "Western". Sometimes developers simply change, and sometimes for the worse.
Okay. Now, what *really* needs fixin' in JRPGs is:
1. Presentation.
The time of two static sprites standing opposite one another taking their turns being emotionally charged while text scrolls by underneath them is over. So is sitting through endless bouts of drawn-out cutscenes and "but thou must!" For the love of god, some JRPG developers take a second to examine Mass Effect's conversation system See? There's a different way to do things!
2. Narrative technique.
The other black sheep. You don't have to start every story in The Village, during the time when They Were All Still kids. In medias res, flashforwards, reverse chronology, unreliable narrator, it's all up for grabs.
3. Combat system.
There's got to something else we can do besides yet another iteration of Attack-Magic-Item-Defend (but now with exotic names for pre-existing concepts!). Same with "tactical" RPGs (most of which are neither tactical nor RPGs). I mean, hell, Metal Gear Acid did more to advance turn-based tactical combat in two games than the past ten years of "Tactical RPGs" put together.
4. Linearity.
This is an old knock against JRPGs, but one that seems to be coming true, recently. Compare FFXIII or Eternal Sonata with any of the older FFs. The graphics getting keep better, but somehow the games are starting to resemble a train ride more and more. At least the JRPGs of old let players roam around a bit.
5. Ye Olde Groupe of Heroes (and their uncomfortably cramped family portraits).
Just look at the covers listed below. Can you spot the difference? Would you care to? Writers are just playing it too safe here, going back to the same standbys time and again. It's time to jettison these archetypes, at least for the next five years or so, and just go completely nuts in the writing department. They don't all have to be card-carrying villains or foaming-at-the-mouth psychopaths. But as it is, the protagonists being wheeled out in JRPGs make heroism look boring.